County jail uses RFID wristbands to monitor detainees

By EgovAsia Editors | Feb 23, 2010

In a new initiative to automatically track and document critical interactions between individual jail detainees and guards, Hardin County Jail in Eldora, Iowa has implemented Clincher RFID Wristbands as an enhancement to its Guardian RFID Corrections System from Codex Corp.

Nick Whitmore, Jail Administrator, states, "Clincher RFID Wristbands provide a new level of precise, point-of-contact verification of one-on-one interaction between the detainee and our correctional officers. The Clincher RFID Wristbands, with GUARDIAN Mobile software, electronically validate our officer's physical contact with detainees whether it's to log headcounts, supply passes, jail rounds, or more." Whitmore continues, "Before using Clincher RFID Wristbands, we solely relied on RFID tags positioned throughout the facility, which only provide our officer's proof-of-presence within the general vicinity of the detainee. With Clincher, we now have electronic documentation of the inmate, date, time, location, and guard officer that were involved in each interaction."

Hardin County Jail first installed the Guardian RFID Corrections System in 2005 as a Correctional Compliance system for its 107 inmate capacity facility. Implemented in December 2009, the adoption of Clincher RFID Wristbands enhances the jail's safety and security by providing non-transferable identification of detainees. Previously, Hardin County Jail used ID badges for inmate identification, but as Whitmore points out, "ID cards were sometimes lost by the detainees or taken by another inmate. With Clincher RFID Wristbands, the detainee's ID stays intact at all times." Clincher's read/write technology interfaces with the Guardian RFID Corrections System for real-time, electronic recordkeeping, tracking, and reporting.

Regulatory compliance within the jail is a key driver for the RFID applications now used at Hardin County Jail. As the officers scan an individual detainee's Clincher RFID Wristband with their ruggedized mobile computers, powered by Guardian Mobile software, the Guardian system records the interaction at the point of contact which provides defensible documentation for regulatory compliance. "If there is an investigation on an assault or suicide